The return of Adele has been talked about for weeks. We have seen her all over the place talking about what she experienced during the six years that have passed since the publication of 25, in 2015. We also heard Easy on me, in October, which did not suggest any major turn for the English singer, and saw the clip shot by Xavier Dolan. After all the hype, 30, undoubtedly one of the most anticipated albums of the year, was finally released on Friday.
“I will bring flowers to the cemetery of my heart”, sings Adele delicately, at the opening of her disc. The reference to the divorce she went through is clear. It will not be the only one on this disc deeply marked by this heartache and the slow recovery in hand of her life as a mother and as a woman. A little organ, elegant violins, melancholy arrangements, of a refined grandeur, it feels like a musical mid-20e century.
His pain, a thin hope too, asserted itself on Easy on me, powerful ballad where the singer’s song lands and flies away on a piano and a little bass. A counting that serves both the subject and the emotion. After only two songs, we already feel that without really deviating from what Adele has offered in the past, this record will be more raw, more revealing than its previous ones. On My little love, subdued soul piece, she also slips excerpts from exchanges between her son and herself, and a confession interspersed with sobs where she speaks frankly about her loneliness.
There are a lot of violins on 30 and a soul approached from a more pop angle than usual (Cry Your Heart Out and Oh my God, partly punctuated by clapping of hands and a rhythm that wants to be joyful). A movement well balanced between the intimate and something a little more theatrical too. However, it is not so much in its craftsmanship that this record stands out, even if it goes a little beyond the framework that it has established here and there. It is rather in the subject, of an almost shameless frankness, that the difference is felt.
30 is the graceful chronicle of a broken heart and its remission. The sorrow is felt everywhere, even in subtext in the most catchy pieces where the singer tries to find the joy, even if it means having to feign it a little. In his moments of stripping as in his moments of grandeur, 30 always strike the right tone.
So it’s not the aesthetic prowess that counts here. Not even the vocal arabesques. What makes this collection of songs so meaningful is that Adele finds the words to express those heart-breaking moments, knowing that she will raise her head someday. And that’s why 30 is a nice big record.
POP
30
Adele
Columbia / Sony